Labor/Wage Articles
There was an average of 12,760 unemployed people in the Wichita metropolitan area in the fourth quarter of 2015, approximately 64 percent of whom collected unemployment insurance benefits. In the fourth quarter of 2015 there were approximately 8,215 people, age 16 and over, who collected unemployment insurance benefits. That is an increase of approximately 33 percent from the third quarter of 2015.
Read the full report on the demographic profile of Wichita unemployment insurance beneficiaries.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, four industries accounted for 65.5 percent of unemployment insurance beneficiaries in the Wichita area; manufacturing, administrative and support and waste management and remediation services, wholesale trade, and construction. These four industries also have a proportionately high level of unemployment insurance, when compared to area employment. The increase in the number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries in this four industries can be mostly attributed to seasonal factors.
Across all subsectors of manufacturing, there is a significantly lower level of educational attainment in beneficiaries of unemployment insurance than in the general labor force. Sixty-three percent of these unemployment insurance beneficiaries have no more education than a high school diploma.
The unemployment rate for Kansas, as a whole, increased by 0.1 percentage points from November to December of 2015. Manhattan had the largest increase, raising by 0.2 percentage points, while Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence saw an increase of just 0.1 percentage points.
A slide presentation is available with additional employment and unemployment data for Kansas and its four metro areas.
View the December slide presentation.
Nationally, 2015 was a year of continued economic growth. The United States real GDP grew by 2 percent in the third quarter of 2015, after growing 3.9 percent in the second quarter. Employment grew 1.8 percent through the first eleven months of 2015.
Through the first eleven months of 2015, Wichita averaged an increase of 1,504 jobs over the previous year. In January 2015, the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) released its 2015 employment forecast for Wichita, predicting that 2,472 jobs would be added to the Wichita economy throughout 2015. While private employment growth exceeded expectations, Wichita’s overall employment growth in 2015 has not reached the forecasted levels of growth, due to the sharp decline in government employment throughout 2015.
Top Six Articles of 2015
- Serving the Community Well: The Economic Impact of Wichita's Health Care and Related Industries
- Wichita in Megapolitan America: An Analysis of Wichita's Potential Export Markets
- Skill Series
- County Employment-Population Ratios Across Kansas
- Employment-Population Ratio in Wichita Compared with Peer Cities
- Affordable Airfares Impact Study
The unemployment rate for Kansas, as a whole, decreased by 0.2 percentage points from October to November of 2015. Wichita had the largest decrease, falling by 0.3 percentage points, followed by Topeka with a decrease of 0.2 percentage points, then Lawrence with a decrease of 0.1 percentage points. Manhattan was unchanged.
A slide presentation is available with additional employment and unemployment data for Kansas and its four metro areas.
There was an average of 15,452 unemployed people in the Wichita metropolitan area in the third quarter of 2015, approximately 40 percent of whom collected unemployment insurance benefits. In the third quarter of 2015 there were approximately 6,164 people, age 16 and over, who collected unemployment insurance benefits. That is a decrease of approximately 40 percent from the second quarter of 2015.
Read the full report on the demographic profile of Wichita unemployment insurance beneficiaries.
In the third quarter of 2015, four industries accounted for 58.9 percent of unemployment insurance beneficiaries in the Wichita area; manufacturing, administrative and support and waste management and remediation services, wholesale trade, and construction. These four industries also have a proportionately high level of unemployment insurance, when compared to area employment. However, of these four industries only one had an increase in the number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries, wholesale trade.
Across all subsectors of wholesale trade, there is a significantly lower level of educational attainment in beneficiaries of unemployment insurance than in the general labor force. Fifty-six percent of these unemployment insurance beneficiaries have no more education than a high school diploma.